


Days in the Sun

by emjee (MerryHeart)



Series: Nature Points the Way, So Much Left to Say [8]
Category: Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Genre: F/M, guess who's back y'all, historical fiction is so much fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-26 17:44:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13862703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerryHeart/pseuds/emjee
Summary: In which our hero and heroine are summoned to Versailles, Belle makes the acquaintance of Madame de Pompadour, and shenanigans ensue in the extensive gardens.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A note on the date: I know that Luke Evans said somewhere in an interview that Gaston saved Villeneuve from invaders at the age of sixteen in 1740, which places the action of the film at least in the 1750s, but since that’s not technically canon I’ve elected to ignore it for the purposes of making this fic line up with certain historical events and people.

January, 1745

 

“There you are.” Belle closed her book and set it on the bedside table as her husband closed their bedroom door behind him. “You must have had quite a day.”

Adam came around to her side of the bed and sat on the edge, bending to unlace his boots. “I’m sorry I missed dinner. It was slow going coming back, with the snow. But,” he cast his first boot aside with a _thunk_ , “the best time to settle property disputes is _before_ the property has to be used again come springtime, and what with the weather and the fact that it’s easier for me to obtain a horse, it was better to go to them.”

Belle threw off the covers and knelt behind her husband, slipping her hands over his shoulders and giving him a squeeze. “I don’t mind, my love, truly.” She kissed the top of his head. “It was very considerate of you.”

Adam discarded his other boot and leaned back into her embrace. “Not very considerate leaving you waiting, I’m afraid.”

“Well, I hold you responsible for many things, but snow is not one of them.” She pressed a soft kiss to his neck.

“You’re already dressed for bed,” he murmured, turning his head to brush his nose against hers.

“You dismissed Lumière for the night?” Belle asked, her left hand roaming to the buttons of his waistcoat.

“I was hoping I could find other help.” He turned around fully and caught Belle around the waist, tilting his head up to kiss her full on. Kneeling on the bed made her taller than him, and he figured he would let her enjoy it, since that didn’t happen often.

“I think,” said Belle between kisses that were becoming longer and deeper, “that I can find someone—willing to assist you—with your clothes.”

 

The candles were burning considerably lower when they found themselves tangled in the middle of the bed, naked, flushed, their breathing just starting to even out. Adam’s fingers drifted through Belle’s hair as he asked her what kind of day she’d had.

“A tolerable one,” she’d replied. “It’s always quieter around here without you.”

“I was here this morning.”

“Shut in with Cogsworth. Arguing, based on the sounds I heard when I passed your study mid-morning.”

“You should have come in.”

Belle raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t sure I felt like dealing with you in that mood.”

Adam let out a deep sigh and rolled onto his back. He caught one of Belle’s hands in both of his own and pressed it to his chest. She felt his heartbeat beneath her palm, and wondered if her breath would ever stop catching whenever she remembered that terrible moment when he hadn’t had a heartbeat for her to feel.

She felt her own heart thud in her chest. “Is something wrong?”

“I suppose it depends on how you look at it.”  
“Adam, you’re scaring me. Stop being coy.”

He sat up suddenly and gathered her into his arms. “Nothing’s wrong, darling, I’m sorry.” Much as she tried to repress it, Adam knew that Belle didn’t like being separated, and he couldn’t blame her; he felt much the same. A day apart from him had made her anxious.

He hugged her to his chest and settled back against the pillows. “I’ve received a letter summoning me to Versailles.”

“Is that not a weekly occurrence?”

“Yes, but those are letters from my cousins. Those are easy to refuse.”

“And this letter?”

“Is from the king.”

Belle turned her head to look at him. “Ah.”

“Quite. That’s what I was arguing with Cogsworth about; he said it absolutely would not do to refuse His Majesty. That,” he mimicked Cogsworth’s just-so tone with impressive accuracy, “unpleasant circumstances were likely to arise should I not obey my liege’s commands.”

Belle snorted. “He’s probably right.”

“Oh, he’s definitely right. I just don’t like admitting it.”

“So when are we going?”

“We?”

Belle disentangled herself and snatched her night rail off of the floor, slipping it over her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course, _we_. It’s what, a hundred and sixty miles to Versailles? That’s nearly a six-day journey, _if_ you get lucky with the weather. And that’s already too long. Never mind that we’ve been married nearly six months and we still haven’t gone anywhere, which is, I mean I understand why, it’s completely fine, but…” They’d gotten married so quickly after the curse had been broken, and there was a whole principality to rehabilitate and processes of governing to establish, since Adam had hardly been interested in them before. Much as they had joked about running off to wine country, they hadn’t been able to take a honeymoon, not with weekly levees and settling of accounts, and then it had been time for the harvest, and then the snows had come. “Adam,” Belle continued, reaching for his hand. “For as long as remember I’ve wanted to travel, to make my world larger. And I know I still have so much time to do that, but…I’ve also waited for so long. I’m tired of waiting.”

Adam sighed and gave her hand a squeeze. “Of course you’ll come. It was ridiculous of me to suggest otherwise. I’m sorry.” He located his own night shirt and pulled it on.

Belle sat cross-legged on the bed, studying his face. “What is it?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face and gave another sigh. “It’s not…I didn’t hesitate because I don’t want you with me. You have to know that.”

She moved closer to him and snuggled herself against his chest. She’d learned by now that closeness usually made it easier for him to talk, and she felt him relax against her as he brushed her hair back from her temple.

“Versailles is…” He trailed off. “It’s a beautiful place, but not a kind one. There’s a lot of intrigue, a lot of gossip and posturing and who’s on the up-and-up and who’s on the way out. The king likes to keep his nobles there so he can watch them and bankrupt them. It’s an expensive lifestyle. One I used to enjoy very much.” Belle tightened her arm around Adam’s waist and pressed a kiss to his chest. “I practically grew up at Versailles. My father was not interested in being a ruler; he was interested in getting close to the king, gambling away his money, and sleeping with as many women as he could get away with. Once it was just the two of us, we spent much more time there than we ever did here. Here belonged to my mother. She was the lady of the house, the servants were loyal to her, and she never went down to Versailles. Belle, I…I don’t want to have to face the things I’ve done. The stories you’ll hear…you won’t…”

Belle braced a hand on the headboard and brought her face level with Adam’s. “I love you, Adam. And there’s no story that can change that, not one tawdry detail. Not even the king of France.” She pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Do you love me?”

His eyes were closed as he answered; he looked to be almost in pain. “Madly.”

“Well, that’s it then, isn’t it?”

He opened his eyes and gazed into hers.

“And you won’t be facing it alone,” she continued. “I’ll be right there.”

Adam let out a short sigh. “Men will flirt with you. Openly. The more forward ones may suggest you do more.”

“You know I never would—”

He cut her off with a kiss, as short as it was intense. “Of course I know, darling. Of course. But that doesn’t mean it’s not going to absolutely eat me up inside.”

“Well,” said Belle, a smirk twisting the corner of her mouth, “perhaps instead of letting it eat you up, you could focus that energy on eating me out.” Adam thunked his head against the headboard. “Too on the nose?”

“Not at all. You just, you give a man a lot of ideas.”  


They were naked again and the candles were nearly burned out.

“Since you never answered my question,” Belle murmured, her head tucked against Adam’s neck, “when do we have to leave?”

“The Dauphin is getting engaged to the Infanta of Spain, and our presence has been demanded for the masquerade at the end of February. The shortest we can get away with staying is probably two weeks; I’m already planning a getaway as the general festivities wind down and everyone’s too drunk to really care. That puts an arrival date in the middle of February, and with this snow—damn the king’s insistence—probably ten days to get there.”

“So we have a week.”

“Approximately. Hardly any time to make over any clothes.”

“Good thing you’ve replaced half your wardrobe, then,” Belle teased. “We couldn’t have you out of style.”

“Good thing Madame de Garderobe insisted ordering court dresses for you when we got married,” Adam answered.

“Lumière was telling me the other day how much you used to spend on shoes.”

“While I remain ashamed of my former spendthrift habits, allow me to say: you haven’t seen the shoes.”

Belle giggled. “So you’ll reply to the king in the morning?”

He shrugged and nudged her off of him. “No time like the present.”

She rolled onto her stomach as he reached for pen, paper, and inkwell from the bedside table. “What are you doing?”

He placed the inkwell in her hand and curled her fingers around it, then dropped the paper on her bare back and licked the tip of the quill. “Hold still.”


	2. Chapter 2

_February, 1745_

 

“It has been a long time since we were here last, _non_?” said Lumière to Adam as he unpacked the last of the trunks in the spacious Versailles apartment.

“Very long, indeed.”

“ _Mon Dieu_ , but it is cold in here,” Plumette exclaimed, glaring at the fireplace. “Where is a chambermaid when you need one?”

“You know how to stoke a fire, my love,” Lumière reminded her. “Or has your promotion to lady’s maid gone to your head and made you forget?”  
“There are fires I’m happy to stoke,” Plumette insisted, retrieving Belle’s wet cloak from the back of a chair and folding it over her arms, “just not the kind that get my hands dirty.”

Belle snorted from where she was stacking books on her dresser. (“We’re going to be gone for weeks,” she’d insisted, “and I don’t know what I’m going to want to read. Drama? Poetry? Novels? I have to be _prepared_ , Adam.” It turned out “prepared” had meant an extra small trunk. Belle said it wouldn’t have been a problem if she’d been allowed to pack fewer clothes. Adam said he was going to be the envy of every man at Versailles, with a wife that wanted _fewer_ clothes.)

“ _I_ know how to stoke a fire,” Belle reminded the room. “Don’t give me that look, Plumette.”

“Ash will be hell to get off of that dress; that is all I am saying.”

“I promise I’ll be very careful,” said Belle with a wink. “That will be all for tonight. Thank you very much, I know you’re as tired as we are.”

“You too, Lumière,” Adam insisted. “Go get some rest.”

“As you wish, _monsieur le prince_ ,” his valet said with a bow. “We’re just a bell pull away.”

He offered his arm to Plumette and they swept out the door, more graceful than half the aristocratic couples at the palace could dream of being.

As the door shut behind them, Adam turned to his wife. “Were I still a gambling man, I would lay good money on you being the only _princesse_ able and willing to do basic household tasks.”

Belle unlaced the front of her traveling gown and slipped it off before kneeling next to the fire. She prodded the coals with a poker and added some extra logs and kindling, and had a roaring blaze in the grate before Adam had finished undressing. She sauntered over to the washbasin to rinse her hands, tossing him a smile over her shoulder.

He was across the room in a moment, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his nose in her hair. “I love you.”

“You love me because I keep you warm.”

“In more ways than one.” He pressed soft kisses to her neck and she gave a sigh that quickly turned into a yawn. “Couldn’t have put it better myself, love. Do you want help with your stays?”

Belle nodded and he unlaced her stays with deft fingers, divesting her of her petticoats while he was at it. “Shall I plait your hair?”

“Only if you want me to fall asleep immediately after.” Adam occasionally helped her tie back her hair before bed, and the sensation of his fingers dragging over her scalp and through her hair was simultaneously soothing and arousing as hell. On a normal night, she might pin him to the bed when he was done, but after a full week of traveling, she was sure her exhaustion would win out this evening.

“You deserve it, darling. Come here.” He led her to the bed and sat on the edge. She was short enough that she could stand between his legs and he still had no trouble reaching her. He hooked his ankles around her as he sifted her hair through his fingers, his feet rubbing against her calves. He loved this, the small caresses he gave her as he gathered more hair into the braid, the small tugs at her scalp he knew she loved. He heard her sigh again. “Ribbon.” She handed him one from the bedside table he tied her braid off.

Belle banked the fire and blew out the candles before they climbed into bed and curled into each other, Belle winding an arm over Adam’s waist and nuzzling his neck. “Are you nervous?” she mumbled, half-asleep already.

“Terrified.”

She threw one leg over him and snuggled even closer. “It’s going to be alright. It’s an adventure.”

Adam smiled up at the darkened ceiling. “Everything’s an adventure with you.”

 

 

The next day, Belle heard the whispers as she and Adam walked the length of the Apollo Salon for their presentation to the king. Ladies bent their heads together behind fans, while the gentlemen leaned to speak in each other’s ears without the benefit of such barriers. Fans or no fans, it was clear that the air was filled with gossip.

“…farm girl, I heard.”

“…explains her dress, completely out of fashion…”

“…and her hair…”

“…cousins say he’s quite in love…”

“…must have trapped him into it somehow, the Ardennes I knew would never…”

“Your Majesty,” Adam intoned, his head held high, “may I present my wife, Belle, _la princesse d’Ardennes et la comtesse de Champagne._ ” _And don’t anyone forget it_ , his tone implied.

Belle dropped into a deep curtsey and kissed the hand the king extended.

“ _Enchant_ _é, princesse_ ,” replied Louis, the fifteenth of his name. “We are pleased, _monsieur le prince_ , that you have seen fit to join us for the celebration of our son’s engagement.” Leaning forward slightly, the king peered at Adam’s face. “Good God, man, it seems you haven’t aged a day.”

“Well, your Majesty, we are as young as our women keep us, no?”

Belle raised her eyebrows ever so slightly. It was a perfect reply, fluid and clever, designed both to please and distract. It seemed ten years hadn’t made Adam any less of a natural courtier.

The king clapped his hands, delighted. “So we are, my friend, so we are!” Belle thought she saw Louis’ glance dart to a woman in the crowd who was most definitely not the queen. A palace of intrigue, indeed.

“Ardennes,” said the king, “it would please us if you joined us today on the hunt.”

“It would be my honor, your Majesty.”

“I commend your wife to the care of the court ladies; I’m sure they can pass the time with whatever ladies do until their men return. And then tonight, of course, we shall have feasting and dancing!”

Sounds of approval issued from the gathered nobility. Adam made another bow, Belle another curtsey, and together they backed away from the throne.

“Are you sure I can’t just hide out in our chambers until you return?” Belle asked, once they were safely out of earshot at the side of the room.

“You were the one who wanted an adventure.”  
“I fear I may have started with one that’s too large.”

“You’ll be magnificent,” her husband assured her, reaching out to wind a curl of hair around his finger. Plumette had swept Belle’s hair up, leaving one ringlet falling over her collarbone. It drove Adam mad when she wore her hair that way.

“And you?” Belle asked. “I know hunting is…discomfiting.”

“To say the least. But I’ll be fine. Talk to the horse a bit, miss everything I shoot, which won’t be hard, actually, I’ve always had terrible aim.”

“You mean there’s a court activity at which you did not excel?”

Adam wrinkled his nose and tilted his head to the side. “I was more of an indoor courtier.”

“ _Excusez-moi, madame la princesse_. ” A beautifully dressed young woman dropped into a curtsey before continuing to address Belle. “The ladies are about to retire before the business of the day begins. If you would come with me?”

“I’ll see you tonight,” Adam said, pressing a kiss to the back of Belle’s hand and giving her a wink. Belle flipped his hand over and quickly kissed his palm before following the young woman out of the salon.

“I’m sorry,” Belle said to the woman, who looked to be about her own age, “I didn’t catch your name.”  
“Jeanne-Antoinette d’Etitoles, _madame_.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She fell silent, trying to keep up with Jeanne-Antoinette and admire the splendor of the corridor at the same time.

“Your first time at Versailles?” Belle replied in the affirmative and Jeanne-Antoinette smiled. “You can always see it in the eyes.”

 

Belle and Adam didn’t see each other again that day until dinner, but keeping up with the conversation afforded them no chance to talk. For that, they had to wait until the crowd of _aristos_ removed to one of the palace’s many ballrooms for dancing.

“Good God,” Adam murmured as he took his wife’s hand for the gavotte, “I was beginning to believe I’d never have a sane conversation again.”

“It was that bad?”

“I don’t know what I ever saw in this life.”

“The palace is beautiful; I will give you that.”

“And what about your day? How did it go? I trust you didn’t end up retreating to our rooms.”

Belle heaved a sigh. “I did not.”

“Brave woman.”

“But it was tempting. I spent the entire day, more or less, in a room with ladies who asked where my needlework was and if I could play the harpsichord, and when I replied that I can mend clothes but I don’t embroider and I never had a chance to study the harpsichord, they quite ignored me, which I was actually fine with because there was a bookshelf with the collected poems of Christine de Pisan.”

Adam beamed down at her as they executed a turn. “‘ _Seulette je suis_ ’.”

“Indeed. But then someone realized that I was **_that_** _princesse d’Ardennes_ , which meant I was married to one Jean-Mathieu-Yvain et cetera et cetera.”

“Ah.”

“And then I was plied with all sorts of questions about how I brought you up to scratch and where you had been all these years and was I really raised in a village? With _mud_? And _cabbages_?”

Adam erupted into a bit of giggles that he quickly disguised as a coughing attack.

“My reading was quite interrupted,” Belle insisted, “and I was very put out. The only thing that saved the afternoon was Jeanne-Antoinette, who is quite clever and managed to say _some_ interesting things when there was a gap in the conversation.”

“Madame d’Etitoles?”

“Yes, the one who led me away this morning.”  
“Oh, she was quite the talk of the hunting party. Apparently the king favors her immensely. He’s expected to do something about it any day now.”

Belle’s brow furrowed as the gavotte ended and she dropped into a curtsey. “Do something about it?”

“ _Maitresse en titre_ ,” Adam whispered.

Belle’s eyebrows lifted. “And what does the Queen think of this?”

“They say she’s resigned to it by now. The word is the birth of her last child was so difficult that she has refused the King her bed. She’s pious and well-liked, but not particularly influential. It’s a shame, really. I remember my mother saying the royal marriage started as something of a love match.”  
“That poor woman.”

Belle wound her arm through Adam’s. “Care for a bit of champagne?” he asked. “You have, after all, survived an entire twenty-four hours at Versailles, and that alone is cause for celebration.”

“I would love some,” she said, and Adam left her standing by one of the high windows while he went to fetch the wine.

“She’s a slip of a thing, really.”

The comment was just soft enough to conceivably be a private remark and just loud enough that it obviously wasn’t. Belle had more than a passing acquaintance with that tone. She had grown up hearing it from nearly everyone except her father.

She glanced discreetly over her shoulder and located the source of the voice, or, at least, one of four potential sources. The women stood in a little group only a few feet from her, fans fluttering in front of their faces as they glanced in her direction.

“Do you really believe it a love match?” another asked. “I certainly don’t. François-Adam was never known for sentimentality.”

“Or fidelity.”

“He may still not be.”

“Shall I see if I can find out?”

Belle tried to swallow the fury rising in her throat. She trusted Adam to the ends of the earth, of course, but hearing such nasty thoughts voiced aloud still sent a chill through her.

“Is everything alright?” Adam had reappeared, a glass in each hand. “You’re frowning.”

One of the gossiping ladies provided an answer before Belle could.

“Oh, _monsieur le prince_ ,” she cried, as though she had just seen him. “You cannot know how delighted we are to see you back where you belong. We’ve missed you so!” The other ladies nodded their assent. “And,” the woman continued, her voice lowered, as if Belle wasn’t there, “have you missed us, François-Adam?”

“I no longer use that name, madame,” he replied, his face stony. “And you must allow me to present my wife,” his voice and expression softened slightly, “Belle de Thibault, _princesse d’Ardenne et comtesse de Champagne._ ”

“ _Enchant_ _ée_ ,” the other woman said, lowering herself ever so slightly in what barely passed for a curtsy. “Belle. Is that short for something?”

“No.”

“Well, it’s…direct. You don’t hear many names here that are quite so simple.”

“The aristocracy has a predilection for extravagant naming conventions,” said Adam, his voice flat.

“Perhaps you’ll set a trend,” the woman replied, smirking. “In any event, Fran— _monsieur le prince_ …don’t be a stranger.”

Adam gave a curt bow. “I wish you a pleasant evening.” His tone was barely civil.

He handed Belle her champagne glass and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. As they strolled away from the group of chattering women, Belle thought she heard him make a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl.

“Do you wish to stay any longer tonight?” he asked.

“Not particularly. The company doesn’t seem very…inviting.”

“Drink your champagne then, and we’ll go.”

Belle’s stomach turned unpleasantly. “I don’t think I’m much in the mood for it now.”

“Very well, then.” Adam flagged a passing footman and handed off their glasses. “Let’s to bed.”

 

They made good time back to their chambers, despite the number of corridors and staircases that Versailles appeared to be mostly composed of. Adam’s strides were long; Belle took two steps for every one of his just to keep up. His mouth was set in a firm line.

Lumière and Plumette were sitting in front of the fire, waiting for their return.

“How did it go?” Plumette asked, once Belle was seated in front of her dressing table. Plumette began to unpin Belle’s hair with deft fingers.

“I never thought I’d meet people who made the busybodies of Villeneuve look nice.”

Plumette clicked her tongue in sympathy. “You are too good for them.”

“I don’t know about that, but it seems I’ll have little to talk about for the next few weeks and even fewer people with whom to talk.” Except, just maybe, Jeanne-Antoinette.

“Well, if you decide you need your ladies’ maid to accompany you as you walk the grounds…” Plumette suggested.

“I will find you, absolutely.” Perhaps she could get some peace and quiet out in the gardens, bare as they were in the face of the final gasps of winter.

Lumière and Plumette departed for the night, and Belle joined Adam in the chairs recently vacated by their friends.

They were silent for a long time; Belle could feel something brewing and wanted Adam to be the first to speak.

“I’d forgotten,” he finally said. “And I cannot apologize deeply enough.”

“To me?”

“Of course.”

“For what?”

“You were standing there, weren’t you? Delphine Laurent, speaking as though she and everyone else hadn’t literally forgotten about my existence for years. Speaking as though you didn’t matter.”

“She was rather a bitch, wasn’t she?”

Adam snorted. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use that word.”

“It’s rarely warranted. Women should support each other, but clearly nobody’s told her that.”

“Did she say something before I got there?” he asked. “Your face—you didn’t look well.”

“Oh.” Belle started to shrug, then decided that this was not the time to abandon the honesty she and Adam always shared. “She and a few other women were talking near me…mean little comments they wanted to makes sure I heard. Innuendo, things like that.”

Adam leaned forward and took her hands in his. “Belle, darling, you have to know I—”

She raised his hands to her lips and pressed a kiss to them. “I don’t doubt you, not in the slightest, not for a second.” She returned their hands to her lap in thoughtful silence. “Why are they so convinced you can’t really be in love with me?”

“Because they’re jealous, because that’s how people here think, and because I used to be a completely shameless rake.”

“Adam…” Belle waited until he met her gaze. “What were you…what did you get up to?”

He sighed, then gave her hands a little tug. “Come sit with me? Please?”

She moved to sit on his lap, twining her arms around his neck. He gathered her close and breathed her in.

“I fucked a lot of people,” he said, his voice brutally straightforward, “with very little regard for their feelings or the consequences. I never forced myself on anyone, and I don’t have any children, as far as I know, but to me they weren’t—people. They were shiny things, baubles to amuse myself with. The Vicomte de Mirabeau was in love with me, I think, and I didn’t spare him a second glance after I kicked him out of bed. It’s utterly shameful.”

Belle nodded, and he closed his eyes. This was why he’d avoided coming here for so long. He’d known that if they came to Versailles she would hear the whispers, and if she heard the whispers, she would ask, and because he loved her he wouldn’t be able to refuse her an answer, and now she would hate him for it.

“And where is the Vicomte de Mirabeau now?” she asked.

He opened his eyes. “I…I don’t know,” he said. “Married by now, probably. He may still be here.”

“Perhaps you should seek him out, then.” Belle traced a finger along the curve of his cheek. “You’ve already spent years atoning for your past. A bit of reconciliation might help, too.”

“So you don’t…you’re not repulsed by me?”

“I’ve seen you dunk your entire face into a bowl of soup. I wasn’t repulsed then, and I’m not repulsed now.” She framed his face with her hands. “I will have this conversation as many times as I have to until you believe me. You have changed, and it is good, and I love you.”

He hugged her closer, one hand coming to the back of her head. She pressed her face against his neck began to press kisses against it.

“I have an idea,” he said.

“Mm?”

“All those women who think I can’t possibly be interested in you?”

“What about them?”

“What if we gave them indelible proof?”

Belle sat up. “How do you mean?”

Adam tangled one hand in her hair. “I mean like this.” He gave a gentle tug, pulling her head to the side, and pressed long, hard kisses against her neck.

“I like this idea,” Belle sighed. “I like it very much.”


End file.
